


It's a Simple Choice (With a Heavy Consequence)

by Telaryn



Category: Leverage
Genre: Educational, Gen, Rare Pairings, Sexual Tension, Teaching, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 15:44:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5545679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When he finds himself backed into a very tight corner, Quinn goes to one of the last people he ever expected to be taking lessons from to get what he needs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a Simple Choice (With a Heavy Consequence)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [honorat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/honorat/gifts).



> If I end up shipping these two, @honorat, it's all your fault. Written for your prompt of members of the team having to learn a new skillset from one of the others, preferably under pressure. I do know Quinn isn't technically a member of the team, but I figured if I could make these two interact you'd appreciate the shading.
> 
> Thank you for playing with us!

Parker could have gone the rest of her life without finding Quinn sitting on her doorstep and been perfectly happy, but he was a friend – almost family, to hear Eliot talk – and he’d clearly seen the worst of _something._ “You should have called,” she said flatly, stepping around him to punch in her entry code.

He snorted softly, but even with him at the edge of her field of vision, Parker saw him flinch. “C’mon in,” she sighed, shoving the door open and striding into the warehouse. He was hurt and probably hungry, and the others would be upset with her if she turned him away without offering what help she could.

“Are you bleeding?” she called over her shoulder as she reached her living area and rooted in the tall cabinet for her small first aid kit.

Parker felt him move into her space like a shiver across her skin. “You’re not going to ask how I found you? Or why?”

“Eliot told you where to find me,” she said matter-of-factly, turning to face him and thrusting the kit into his hands. “And if you want food, all I’ve got is cereal.” She paused, calculating the last time she’d eaten at home. “Milk might be bad – I don’t remember.”

He was getting that look on his face – the look people always got when she started to confuse them. Parker went to her bed and sat down, pulling Bunny into her lap. “What makes you think Eliot told me where you were?” Quinn asked, taking a cautious step closer to her.

Parker shrugged. “Nobody else trusts you. And if he didn’t tell you, it means you tracked me down all on your own.” She smiled her coldest smile, and was rewarded with the hitter stepping back the same pace he’d just taken in her direction. “That would be bad.”

Silence again, but Quinn was able to maintain eye contact – a definite mark in his favor. “Look,” he said finally, once he understood that she wasn’t going to give anything up first, “can we order a pizza or can I buy you food? I need your help.” He huffed out a sharp breath, looking embarrassed. “Pretty badly.”

Her first impulse was to laugh at his suggestion of ordering pizza, but Parker decided that he just didn’t know any better. “Does it have anything to do with why you got beat up?” she asked, setting Bunny back in its place on the pillow.

Quinn nodded. “If I can’t figure out a way to make this right, they’re going to do worse next time they see me.”

Parker chewed on her lower lip. She didn’t like having him in her home, but that was more about him not being family. “Eliot trusts you,” she said. “Calls you a friend. I can help you.”

He smiled at her, and she was distantly aware that it was the kind of smile that would make most women willing to do anything Quinn asked them to. Well, she was already doing what he wanted – he certainly didn’t need to try his evil mind tricks on her. “What about food?” he asked.

Now it was her turn to smile. “You do the first aid thing. I’ll bring something back for both of us.”  
*******************************  
_She’s one of the only ones to ever crack an Isolator._ Quinn rummaged in the First Aid Kit until he found two ibuprofen, which he dry swallowed. He wasn’t bleeding, and as far as he’d been able to tell nothing was broken – although not for want of trying in at least two cases during the beat-down that he could pinpoint.

Closing the kit, he went to the large refrigerator/freezer and checked. Half a dozen different ice packs greeted him, along with a bucket overflowing with ice cubes. Parker was strange, but disturbingly practical, he decided, reaching for a pack that looked capable of dealing with the worst of the ache in his shoulders. _Gotta watch the charm,_ he decided, shifting slowly and carefully onto a stool near a weirdly large table. Whether it was for Eliot’s sake or something else he’d likely never know or understand, he’d caught a definite break when she turned out to be willing to help him.

No point in overplaying his hand.

Quinn was feeling decidedly more like himself by the time Parker returned with two bottles of soda, half a gallon of butter pecan ice cream, and a large pepperoni pizza. “I took a contract to obtain plans for a new surface to air missile launcher,” he said, dutifully returning the now warm ice pack to its place in the freezer, while Parker set out the food. “It was only after I agreed to the job that I saw the plans were being held in an Isolator.”

The thief actually paused in her work, looking up at him with wide, incredulous eyes. “Oh good job, Ace!”

“Yeah, well – when I saw how in over my head I was, I tried to back out of the deal. Offered to return their up-front money and everything.” Ignoring Parker’s clear look of confusion at his offer to return money, Quinn went on. “They made their point very clearly about how much choice I was going to have.”

Parker folded a piece of the pizza until it all fit into her mouth. She chewed carefully and swallowed, considering Quinn’s proposal. “Let me see your hands,” she said at last.

Startled at the command, Quinn nevertheless held them out for her inspection. She took her time, studying each one thoroughly before glancing up to meet his eyes again. “You sure they won’t let you bring me in as a subcontractor?”

Quinn sighed. God forgive him, but he’d thought about it – even knowing what Eliot would have said about him involving Parker in a military theft like this. “They made their point crystal clear,” he said again. “I sign the contract, I crack the safe.”

Relief flooded through him as Parker set hands on her hips and her expression became matter of fact. “I can show you what you need to know, for fifty percent of your take.”

On the surface it was an outrageous demand, but he was at her mercy and she knew it. “Get me in and out of this in one piece, and you’ve got a deal.”  
**********************************  
_They didn’t break his fingers._ As far as Parker could tell, whoever had beaten and scared Quinn this badly had been very careful not to compromise his hands. It told her everything she needed to know about who had hired him – and would hopefully help the others when she finally told them what Quinn had been drawn into.

Parker didn’t have an Isolator in her arsenal of practice safes because…well… She did have three different safes that between them would give her an idea of Quinn’s ability to take on this task. Moving each of them into position, she sat Quinn in front of the first one. “This is the baby of our family,” she said, giving the Glenn Reader a fond caress. “Be nice to her, and she’ll tell me how much trouble you’re really in.”

Talking him through the process of working the tumblers was only a matter of a few minutes – he’d never actually cracked a safe himself, but he’d studied the principles of the different methods. “You need to be aware of the nerve endings in your fingers,” Parker said, crouching in front of him and taking his hand in hers. She brushed the heel of her hand across his fingertips and grinned as he shivered. “You don’t actually hear the clicks, you feel them.”

“What about using a stethoscope?” Quinn asked. Parker rolled her eyes because, _really?_

“You want movie tricks,” she said scornfully, “I can send you to half a dozen bozos who will tell you everything you need to know about cracking a safe that way. Of course you’ll be captured or dead after going up against the Isolator, but you’ll look cool while being an utter dead failure, so hey – all good, right?” 

“Okay, okay,” Quinn said, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I was just asking.” His expression went strange for a moment. “It’s easy to forget sometimes that you’re the best in the world at this.”

Parker studied him for a long moment, trying to decide if he was ‘turning on the charm’ or not. Deciding eventually that he was sincere, she settled easily back into teaching mode. “Put your right hand on the tumbler. Starting from zero, take her one complete revolution, stopping when you think you feel the first number of the combination.” He wouldn’t feel it, not on the first try. Everyone she’d ever worked with was sure that they would, and none of them ever did. _Too much weight in their eyes,_ Archie had called it, which is why Parker was surprised when the first thing Quinn did after settling to his work was close his eyes. After settling, he blew out a long, soft breath and then the heavy lock began to move under the direction of his fingers.

He paused at twenty-four, opening one eye in query, and okay he was two off, but that still wasn’t bad. Certainly not bad enough for him to be looking like somebody had kicked his puppy. “Again,” she said, reaching across and running her hand across his eyes to close them before he could figure out who he was mad at.

She worked with him for the better part of an hour, at the end of which he could open the Glen Reader with nearly ninety-five percent accuracy. “Nice,” she admitted, as he successfully opened the safe again.

Quinn’s eyes, which had been stormy and dark before, were pale and light and almost sparkling with his happiness at his success. His body language was the same – tense and angry before, relaxed and happy now. “Maybe I should consider a career change, huh?”

Parker snorted, rolling her eyes. “You know, these babies don’t care about how charming you are,” she said, moving the TL30-Guardian into position next to the Reader. “The Isolator especially – it demands all your attention Quinn. Two locks, not just one, and you’ve got to pop them at the same time.”

He drew a deep, shuddering breath as she closed the Reader and spun the lock again. Parker was pleased to see that he’d taken her entirely at her word and immediately grasped the scope of what he was facing.

 _Maybe there’s hope for you after all._  
****************************************  
She had his number cold. Quinn had never had much cause to interact directly with Parker; the times he’d been called in to help the Leverage team had been to supplement Eliot’s very distinctive skillset. It had given him the same impression of the master thief he suspected most outsiders had – which he was learning now only made up the barest piece of who she was.

“You’re done.”

Startled, Quinn focused on his hands, then looked up at Parker – confused at what had happened until he read the truth in her eyes. “Thinking too much?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, “about everything except the job. Reset them and try it again.”

Determined to do better, Quinn reset the dials to zero and then tried to settle himself. The first handful of clicks went well, then he caught movement at the edge of his vision. “Reset it and start over.” Parker’s disappointment with him was plain.

Heart beating faster, Quinn did as she said. This time he made it through what he was certain was the first pairing of numbers and reversed the direction of the tumblers, seeking the second pair. When he felt a jolt through his fingertips he didn’t question it – he just reversed them and went for the third pair.

A warm, strong hand cupped the back of his neck. Quinn inhaled sharply, then swallowed down his instinct to react. _I’m on the right track._ It was the only explanation for why Parker had changed tactics so drastically in her mission to distract him. Comfortably in the zone now, he found himself deciding on the third pair and shifting directions for the fourth.

 _Teeth gently grazing the edge of a bruise high on his shoulder…warm breath…soft lips…heady mixture of pleasure and aching pain…_ Quinn struggled for another moment to hold his concentration, then – growling in frustration – he let head and hands drop, the awareness he needed gone forever.

“Not fair,” he grumbled, shuddering uncontrollably as she continued to tease him a moment longer. “Parker…” He clenched his hands in tight fists against his thighs.

“Simple choice,” she said, shifting around until she was crouched in his field of view. Quinn’s eyes widened as he saw she’d stripped down to a form-fitting black tank top and black tight black pants. The outfit showed off every inch of her strong, well-toned body, prompting thoughts Quinn knew he would likely be killed for acting on. “Do you want to fuck me, or do you want to beat these guys?”

Quinn felt heat rising in his cheeks, his mouth falling open in shock. Finally he said the only thing that would come out of his mouth.

“Would you kill me if I said both?”


End file.
